Radar
Rat

Radar Rat is one of the rarest editions of Banksy’s Rat prints, showing a rat resting on hind legs, wearing headphones and clutching a tape recorder. The work was originally known as ‘Sonic Rat’ and was first released by Banksy’s print publisher Pictures on Walls (POW) at the artist’s Santa’s Ghetto pop-up shop.

Radar Rat also appeared on a few walls in the streets of London, including around the Chelsea area in 2002. They were later reproduced on canvas in 2004 as well as on the cover of Dirty Funker’s ‘Future’ album in 2008.

Spray-stencilled in signature Banksy-print style, the Radar Rat appears to be listening intently to the world around him, in what seems to be a comment on the ever-increasing presence of surveillance equipment in cities such as London.

The popularity of the rat as a symbol in street art began with the rise of Blek le Rat, a French stencil artist who initiated the urban art movement in France in the '80s. Also known as Xavier Prou, the ‘Father of stencil graffiti art’ began to spray-paint small rats in the streets of Paris and on the banks of the Seine "because rats are the only wild animals living in cities, and only rats will survive when the human race disappears and dies out. I wanted to do a rat invasion. I put thousands all over Paris."

Two decades later, stencilled rats appeared in the United Kingdom and quickly became prominent in the work ofartists like Banksy, who put their own spin on the now-iconic motif. In his book, Banksy acknowledged his debt to Blek le Rat, stating that "Every time I think I've painted something slightly original, I find out that Blek le Rat has done it as well, only 20 years earlier."

To learn more about Banksy's Rats, see our guide here.